Tag: giving

Ok, a while ago- specifically 3m ago, right after my car accident- I went by the neighbors. We had gotten a piece of their mail and I needed to talk with them for some quite selfish reasons. They are home quite a lot, as both are retired from the fire department, and since my car was gone I was often stuck-I had hoped to be able to call on them in emergencies. So, I ran out while the boys napped carrying that airline flyer completely unprepared for what I was about to hear.
They were moving. And not only that they had to be out in less than a month….as she slowly told me the story of why her nephew-who owned their home- wanted them out I wondered why she was home that day, normally her husband was home. She said “he just wants the money” referring to her 25-ish year old nephew who, let’s just say, sounds like a real winner…all sarcasm implied there….her voice shook and she broke down. Tears began to form in her eyes and I asked how she was handling everything, my selfish desires to stop by were now just a fleeting thought and I listened, thoroughly stunned. As the story unfolded I came to learn that in recent days not only had a close family friend passed, but she had also had a stroke, which explained her slow speech. She had been in the hospital for almost a week when her nephew had said “pack up.”
I couldn’t think of anything else to say but, “aww, that sucks” and “I’m sorry.” Knowing that those words are hollow but not have much else to offer we finished up our conversation and I went home I feeling absolutely terrible. I had been that person, Scott and I experienced that HARD time, and without the generosity of a few key people we really have no idea where we would be right now. I sat for a minute and then picked up the phone….who could I call to get this off my chest….then it dawned on me. This kid selling the house wanted money-and fast- he didn’t care that he would drop the place for a fraction of its worth, he didn’t want to fix it up to get the best price possible, and he surely didn’t care that he was leaving his now disabled aunt and her husband homeless, meaning, this place was a steal. I thought for a few minutes and soon came to the conclusion that any property investment company would love this. Yet who did I know that bought properties aside from my parents? Now divorced with a difficult enough time splitting the properties that they managed…there was always our landlords….wait, our landlords! They were good to us, great about the pets, fixed things in a timely fashion, and had already “flipped” our place completely gutting and renovating it. Hmmmm…..after about 15 minutes, I ran back over to the neighbor, asking if they would be ok with me letting the landlord know the place was for sale. She answered the door and seemed to be surprised that we were actually renting and didn’t buy this home as it was sitting for sale for months before we moved here last winter. With no more than “I guess so” from the neighbor I ran home almost positive that this would work out. Maybe my naive heart that could will this into working….
I texted the landlord; my only contingency- the current renters get to stay. They replied in seconds “which house, how much, who owns it.” The ball was rolling. I only had answers to some of these questions so I went back to the neighbor to get the rest…but she didn’t know either. So, we waited. Our landlord could, of course, look up the rest of it but it would take a few days. Wouldn’t you know it in those few days we needed our septic system cleaned. As they came out with all the workers cleaning our gutters and garage, fixing our porch and pumping the tank, it was mentioned that the house had been viewed and THEY WILL BUY IT!!! I was ecstatic, I literally cried with happiness. But that still left a lot to wonder, mainly when will this happen. With that answer now seeming like more of a vague pipe dream again I had little that I could do now. I sent the landlords weekly until I finally got a “we’ll let you know”….I knew I had to leave then alone and wait. The weeks went by and soon turned into a month, and then 2 months and then just shy of three months Scott called me. The neighbors had stopped by….they had just signed a lease with their new landlords, our landlords. My contingency was remembered and honored. I sank into my chair and happily cried. It was and is all I could ask for for Christmas.